Perfect Circles
by transcendently
Summary: [CHANGED USERNAME: karma826645 transcendently] Watanuki finally learns how to control his pesky spirits, though not without the help of his ‘favorite’ archer...slight DoumekixWatanuki
1. Chapter One

**DISCLAIMER**: I do not own XXXHolic. But if I one day finally hone my spidey senses so I can go and live in NYC and save people daily, I will. (Which is probably never. XD)

**Perfect Circles**

**Chapter One**

Yuuko was in a good mood.

It helped that she had two bottles of vintage imported brandy last night, her favorite baseball team had won the champions, and the next day hangover lasted _hours_ less than usual.

She was in such a good mood, in fact, that she finally decided that Watanuki deserved some pointers in controlling spirits, lest he should get himself into deep trouble; which was usually her doing in the first place anyways.

Not that she'll be admitting to that anytime soon.

With a series of claps and pauses, Yuuko's two soulless servants appeared in a billowy pink 'poof'. She loved theatrics. "Watanuki-kun has to do something very important today, so as soon as he comes through the door, he must see me immediately, understand?"

And with double nods and a resounding "Hai!" the two repeated the witch's claps and disappeared the same way they came.

**XXXHOLICXXXHOLICXXXHOLICXXXHOLIC**

Watanuki was having an equally good day, if not better than his employer. He had been handed back a test that had the highest score of the grade, was recruited to captain in his PE class, did not see Doumeki _at all_, none of the spirits decided to chase him that day, and best of all, Himiwari-chan had sat with him all throughout lunch, with a friendly banter between the two.

He didn't even mind that he had to go to his job as a 'housemaid' in Yuuko's eccentric store, and just about skipped all the way there. He wrenched open the door with a huge grin and walked in, only to become face to _double faces_ with-

'_Uh oh.'_

"Watanuki-kun must see mistress immediately! Watanuki-kun must see mistress immediately!" Maru and Moro squealed while one took his hands and dragged while the other circled him and pushed from behind.

"H-hey!" Watanuki feebly countered as he was led through the house, banging into walls as they turned corner after corner after corner...

Eventually, they arrived to their destination, with the reluctant hostage still wincing at the aftermath of the journey.

"Had a good day?" Yuuko questioned with a small smile, taking note of the rather large bruise on her employee's head as she watched him running headlong into a cabinet outside of the room.

Watanuki gave a smile as well, even though he was still hurting from the bruises and scratches that he received.

"Well, that's good, it'll be helpful for what you're about to do today…"

"Huh?" Watanuki asked confusingly, as his boss seemed to never really care for his mental well-being, as she would often use him for her sadistic ways.

Yuuko grinned. "I'm going to teach you how to make perfect circles."

**XXXHOLICXXXHOLICXXXHOLICXXXHOLIC**

She gracefully got up from her antique psychiatrist chair and walked out of the room, with Watanuki tagging along. Going down two floors and crossing a hallway, she led them to a smaller room that was sparsely furnished, with a small table in the corner and some cushions.

On the table were a brush and an inkwell all set up for them, while Yuuko strode over to the closet to find some paper.

"Circles," she explained as she sat down at the table, "are universal symbols of boundaries. They also represent continuity and enlightenment, so there are a limited number of circles used for purposes like these." She dipped the brush into the inkwell and began to apply pressure onto the paper in a smooth curve. "A spirit's size is judged by it's own strength, and will fluctuate to it's own accord. Most spirits will fit nicely in circles slightly over fifty centimeters in diameter on average, but proportionally wrong sizes, no matter if it's too small or too large will not work." Her hand steadfastly went around at its meditating pace, and would occasionally stop to darken her lines.

"With incantations or extra precautions, you can also lengthen the duration of the boundary circle, defend yourself, and even control the spirits' conscious thinking, but even without the extras, a good circle can hold for a few vital seconds at least." She finally finished and handed the brush to Watanuki, who couldn't wait to start. He eagerly took it with a genuine, "Arigatou!" and began-

"Oh, and can you fix me a peach cobbler? They should be in season by now..." Yuuko airily requested, causing Watanuki to inwardly facefault, wondering why she couldn't have told him earlier. Nonetheless, he got up and stalked off to the kitchen, dragging his bruised ego behind him.

Seemingly oblivious to her employee's chagrin, Yuuko also added, "And make it bigger than usual! Doumeki's going to come over as well today..."

And suddenly, Watanuki's day wasn't going as well as he thought.

**End Chapter One.**

**EDITED A/N:** Thanks for reading! As I'm currently in the process of revising the story, my schedule on the fic may change a bit, butit is about 99 likelyI'll stillmake the weekly deadline…thing.

Reviews will be greatly appreciated! (Anonymous reviews are accepted as well…) D


	2. Chapter Two

**Disclaimer: **:sighs: I still don't get why there's isn't any super secret chemical toxic waste dumps or spiders around these parts any more….

**AN: **After squinting and poking and re-reading the rest of the story for the millionth time, I decided that it didn't do much justice in terms of keeping everyone nicely in character. So I scrapped nearly half of the story and changed it so it would be more CLAMP-like and as a result, leaning more towards gen. You probably won't see much DxW unless you squint really, really hard or have X-ray vision. For those who have been waiting, sorry it took so long! ;;

**Perfect Circles**

**Chapter Two**

As usual, Watanuki's culinary creation had came out sucessfully; with a heavenly scent wafting through the kitchen as he took it out of the oven with the standard frilly pink oven mitts. He heaved the confection over the counter onto the chopping board, waiting for it to cool as he finished making tea.

Finally finished, he balanced a pot of tea, a tea set, and a cake knife in one hand with the cobbler in the other. He inched his way to the main foyer at a snail's pace, careful not to tip anything over. After an obstacle course of stairs, narrow hallways, and wet floors, he managed to reach his destination unscathed. (Which he discovered only happened when he was meant to bring food.)

But before Watanuki could do anything, the two girls popped unexpectedly at his sides, sharing twin grins as one snatched the cobbler and the other handling the rest, quickly setting everything up for their mistress. Over the clinking of silverware as cups and plates were passed around, Yuuko offhandedly brought Watanuki up to speed.

"Mokona and I will be trying out the new Thai restaurant on the other side of town, so you won't have to prepare anything." Yuuko smiled at her employee, obviously happy with her rare generiosity.

"But I already started cooki-"

"We will go as soon as Doumeki-kun shows up, so if you have any questions about circles, best ask him." Yuuko intervened while waving her hand disinterestedly, more interested in Maru handing over a plate of Watanuki's homemade confection.

"Huh?" Watanuki's head shot up, looking confused.

"Well," Yuuko explained while cutting a piece of her slice and giving a bit to Moro first, "Doumeki has already a good grasp on how to control spirits already, so he will be helping you more than learning along. Best learn quickly, so the next time you two go on a job, you won't be as useless-"

"I'M NOT USELESS, HE'S THE ONE THAT'S USELESS…"

By that time, Yuuko had already blocked out the boy's rant and took a huge bite into her slice. Her expression softened as she chewed, shaking her head and blushing as she savored the sweet and spicy flavor.

"AND WHEN WAS THE LAST TIME THAT IDIOT COULD DO ANYTHING BY HIMSELF…?"

"Oh gee, look the time," Yuuko nonchalantly interrupted as she popped another bite into her mouth, muffling her words, "you better get started before Doumeki gets here…"

This had allowed the boy to momentarily forget about the archer's vices as he ran out of room, yelling instructions of saving at least a quarter of the pie for later. The remaining four indulged on without any of the 'white noise', though they were certainly having a hard time abiding to the advice.

**XXXHOLICXXXHOLICXXXHOLICXXXHOLIC**

A half an hour later found an exhausted Watanuki as he dropped his brush back into the inkwell and leaned back with a sigh. The practice was much harder than he anticipated, with his biggest circle only about ten centimeters and his best the size of his thumb.

A slight tap on the door signaled a newcomer, with Watanuki grateful for the distraction. He wheeled around-

And spun millimeters from Mokona's smiling face. The screech that followed could be heard all throughout the house.

"MOKONA IS HERE!" the little manjuu bun shrilled loudly into Watanuki's ear as the boy flailed about, trying not to hit the ground face first.

Catching his breath, he glared at the infernal black creature who bounced around in midair to an impromptu tune, though he was slightly relieved it wasn't-

"Mokona has brought Doumeki-kun over! Though Watanuki-kun should take extra extra **_extra_** care not to give Doumeki-kun lots of trouble like Watanuki-kun usually does…"

_'Great. Hey, wait-'_

"WHAT IS THAT SUPPOSED TO MEAN?"

Watanuki took a swipe for the manjuu's ears, but missed as Mokona bounced out of the way and hid behind Doumeki's large figure.

"Wah! Watanuki-kun's so scary…Doumeki-kun must be very brave for having to see him all the time!"

The archer just shrugged. "It's a bit tough sometimes, especially that time when…"

"ARE YOU TWO DONE?"

"Oh really? Uwah! Doumeki-kun's so cool!"

"Eh, saving his ass isn't too hard…"

Ignoring the now fuming Watanuki, the manjuu quipped, "Mokona sometimes thinks that Doumeki-kun is very, very brave! Keeping Watanuki-kun safe from Watanuki's own clumsiness, not minding wherever it may take Doumeki-kun!" the pork bun /bunny hybrid sang with starry eyes and a smile straight out of a shoujo manga.

"You wouldn't like where my **_foot_** may take you," Watanuki hissed out, miming a drop kick action to make his point.

Even though Doumeki could not see the manjuu's smile wavering, he could hear a very audible 'gulp!' as the black bun sprinted out of sight, with a string of words following as his excuse. "Okay! Sorry! Mokona hafta go! Yuuko-san is probably calling me! Wah! Her voice is so pretty! Yuuko-san must be taking singing lessons..."

The departure had left the remaining two in an awkward silence, while Watanuki shuffled through the closet and found an extra brush, grunting uncommitally as he handed it to Doumeki.

"Paper?"

Watanuki scowled as he went back to the closet and rummaged around, leaving Doumeki ample time to survey Watanuki's work.

"None of this is going to work..." the older boy criticized, turning the paper in various angles.

"Come again?" Watanuki deadpanned as he turned his head and narrowed his eyes at the other boy.

"I'm saying that your circles are really bad," the older boy explained, emphasizing his point by pointing to the various not so decent ones. "It's like you just started today."

Fuming, Watanuki reached over to grab his work, ("I _DID_ START TODAY…") but was stopped by Doumeki's outstretched hand resting on his forehead, blocking any advances as the shorter boy swung his arms about like windmills.

"You have to have a peaceful state of mind for this, as circles take a great deal of concentration and will to create." Doumeki lectured, ignoring Watanuki's struggle as the shorter boy attempted to escape his captor. "Your emotions also fuel your abilities, so whatever you're feeling, you'll draw it as well."

After his speech, Doumeki finally let go of the disgruntled Watanuki as the shorter boy gave a glare and crossed his arms disbelievingly.

"Oh really?" Watanuki huffed. "Then what do you suppose we do about that?"

**XXXHOLICXXXHOLICXXXHOLICXXXHOLIC**

"I can't believe you took me seriously…"

An hour later found a choleric Watanuki whining next to the stoic boy, obviously not pleased with Doumeki's meditation idea. Tired of sitting in the awkward lotus position and having to not think of anything for so long, the shorter boy turned his energy to waking up the other boy.

"Oi, are you listening to me?"

Doumeki didn't respond as he couldn't hear anything, and as a bonus, he couldn't hear Watanuki's whining. He had no trouble in his meditation state, slowing his breathing rate as his worldly worries faded away…

**Poke.**

Doumeki wrinkled his nose a bit at the interruption, but relaxed and continued his mediati-

**Poke.**

This time he twitched a bit and squeezed his eyes shut, but with new resolve he carried on-

**Poke. Pokepokepokepokepoke…**

Fully conscious, Doumeki whirled around to find a bored Watanuki languidly poking his backside. As soon as the shorter boy knew he had the attention he needed, he jerked his head towards the clock and quickly shoved the inkwell and a brush into Doumeki's hands.

"You mind? I haven't got all day…."

With an eyeroll, Doumeki turned back around and closed his eyes again. Still clutching the writing utensils in his hands, he floated calmly back to the unconscious world…

Watanuki raised an eyebrow and waited for a reaction, until he realized what was happening. Watanuki clenched his teeth as he rocked the unconscious boy back and forth violently, hardly believing his luck.

"WHEN YOU WAKE UP, YOU'RE GONNA BE **SO** DEAD SHIZUKA…"

**End Chapter Two.**

I do hope you know she's only joking…;;

Shizuka's his last name…right? 0o

Thanks for reading! (Again. D) Reviews would be nice too….;; 


	3. Chapter Three

It took Doumeki another twenty minutes to wake up by his own accord, much too long for Watanuki's patience. However, as the impatient one quickly discovered, the archer was just as helpful and concerned as he was unconscious.

Still, the shorter one was wholeheartedly determined not to give up and make the best use of the time without help.

A few hours later, the younger boy finally came up with results worth commending. Dangling the paper in front of the other's face in his oh-so-subtle manner, it took him all his self-restraint not to flat out pronounce his accomplishments for every inhabitant in the house, wherever the hell the twins were at- as well.

No response.

It wasn't until he physically lifted the archer's head a few inches up to actually see his handiwork. But even so, all he received was the slightest, _slightest_ eyebrow arch.

"Well?" Watanuki slowly grounded out between his teeth, dangling the paper inches from the other's nose. "How. Is. It."

A slow nod. Watanuki obliged and let go. The head immediately ducked back down and mumbled out a response. "Hn. Try again."

Watanuki ripped the paper out of view and surveyed it himself, frowning and turning it at all angles. "But…" he whined, "What is it? What's wrong?"

"Everything. Try again."

"No really-"

"You already know."

"But-"

"Yes you do. And I can't fix it anyways."

Watanuki wordlessly turned back and hauled his entire workstation to the other side of the room, with his back to the archer.

The two wouldn't talk to each other for the remainder of the night.

**XXXHOLIC**

As the night wore on, Watanuki's circles grew worse and worse, until he stopped and found that his circles looked just like his earliest ones, clumsy and faltering. Discouraged, he left the room with the teapot, shuffling to the kitchen for a refill. As he came back, Doumeki was gone.

He set the pot on the table and began shuffling through the other boy's pile, becoming more and more disheartened at what he saw.

Perfect symmetry. Perfect grace. Perfect circles.

It wasn't until halfway that he found a break, a page with two characters written in perfect calligraphy amidst all the perfect circles.

'_Sorry.'_

He ripped it into shreds, along with the rest.

**XXXHOLIC**

Surprisingly, Yuuko never asked him how the 'lesson' went, or even why she came home to her disheveled employee busy at work as a rather efficient paper shredder.

Of course, her silences always made Watanuki much more agitated than her half criticism, but he was already glad that she didn't do her routine of embarrassing the hell out of him, even managing not to eat his curry rice he had ordered on the way home.

The next day was a different story.

She began. "So."

He tried to end it. "Yeah."

"About yesterday…" She inwardly smirked at the pained expression.

"No." He turned away from her to dust the floating trinkets on the other side of the room.

She shifted onto her back, arms behind her head, continuing the interrogation.

"Well, you could-"

"Look," Watanuki started, turning back to his employer to issue his side of the situation, "it's all his fault, he's such a loser and wouldn't tell me how to improve, and I had to spend hours and hours all by myself trying to get it right, but that moron just sat there without doing anything."

Yuuko actually looked interested. She didn't expect him to snap that fast. "Not yet, huh?"

Flustered, he dropped his hands from their previous position above his head. "No."

"And your relation with Doumeki…?" she called out to the retreating back.

She didn't expect a reply, but the stomping and infuriated mumblings confirmed her guess. She held her tongue to giving out a hint. _Not like he'll follow it anyways._

**XXXHOLIC**

On the other hand, Watanuki's assumptions about Doumeki had been dead on, rarely ever seeing the other boy. Pretty much, it meant Watanuki had to walk home alone everyday and was spared from lunch requests, which suited him well enough. Himiwari didn't seem to notice the absence, and for a while, neither did he.

And then it started.

**AN**: Sorry for the wait, lahs. Whoever said the whole '99 perpiration, 1 inspiration' is a total liar. I'll be getting the next few chapters out **MUCH** faster than this, count on it.Thank **you** for getting this far w/ me, guys! D


	4. Chapter Four

**AN**: It's ghost month, everyone! In Chinese mythology, this means all the ghosts are allowed to roam the human world freely. Which means there's going to a whole lot of Watanuki flailing and Doumeki latching. :D Not to mention July 30th, (7/7 in the lunar calendar) is Chinese Valentine's Day. This year, the lunar version of July runs from July 25th to September 21st so yeah, considering that I haven't updated in half of forever, I will _try_ to update more during this time. However, since this will be my junior year, my studies are still very important to me, so please understand! And thank you to everyone who has read, reviewed, and pushed me to continue! Thank you!

**Perfect Circles Chapter Four**

It had floated down from above, past the morning fog, the skyscrapers, to the concrete jungle below. After hovering overheads for a target, it settled for a little girl, her two tight pigtails bouncing along behind her. It speeded along to catch up, finally hooking onto her hair and entangling itself into her stiff braids while sampling the loose ends, which decidedly did not taste very good. It wasn't ideal, but it would do for now.

**xxxHOLiC**

Watanuki always hated July. Everything spoiled faster, mildew grew like wildlife vegetation, and everything was just so hot, hot, **_hot._**

And of course, the ghosts tagged along like crazy during this time of year. During the weeks of 'staying away from Doumeki', the apparitions came back in droves; clinging onto the boy like desperate lovers, fighting amongst themselves for all the prime spots as they breathed down his neck, gnawed and nibbled on his appendages, and latched onto his limbs. July simply allowed them to get more 'personal'.

But hell would freeze over before Watanuki would admit this was a problem. Dragging himself over to the wish shop very early in the morning and always coming back late at night, the spirits would lessen significantly while he was at work, but the most persistent ones still held on, no matter how many stupid rituals and incantations that Yuuko suggested for him, as always with a price.

"But they didn't even work!"

"_So?"_ And he knew it was impossible.

**xxxHOLiC**

After an hour of tagging along, it decided to move on, not being able to take the incessant, constant movement of such an animated creature. It did not have to search long though, as a couple strolled past the girl, allowing it to simply transfer onto the spiked, green haired boy. But the gel made it impossible to latch on firmly, and it peeled off, looking for the next target.

**xxxHOLiC**

It was also much more tiring in July as more and more customers came by, anxious to get rid of their own troubles. Luckily, Watanuki rarely had to step out of the shop during this time, as Yuuko decided to fulfill these wishes herself. Watanuki had almost believed that the woman was exempting him from the errands out of sympathy, but after a derisive snort and a short explanation that the ghosts that were only allowed to roam during July were the most vengeful, the boy's self worth and respect for his employer deflated.

Whatever the reason, Watanuki was glad enough not to meet the spirits in, always making a point to prepare an extravagant meal boasting the best ingredients and the finest recipes for his employer's return, even though the boy would be thoroughly exhausted when he was finished. Even Yuuko almost seemed tired, often poking at the ten course meal laid out for her every night, never being able to finish. But knocking back a few shots of sake along with Mokona and singing drinking songs never failed to keep her flamboyant and energetic as always.

**xxxHOLiC**

It finally settled on a head of thick, wavy curls, following the owner from shopping mall to shopping mall. It was tempted to stay with the girl; even floating after her as she walked home towards the suburbs. But the girl suddenly stopped, snapping her fingers and speaking out loud to no one in particular, "Oh, that's right! I have to see Watanuki tomorrow…"

_Watanuki._ Even the name sounded delicious. It didn't know where 'Watanuki' was, or even what it was, but it would wait.

It would wait.


End file.
